Marissa Gutierrez lands her final pass as her coach Bryan Raschilla pumps his fists - she scored a 9.9 on the Floor during the Crimson Tide's NCAA gymnastics meet with Kentucky, Friday, January 25, 2013, at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)

Sarah Patterson cracked a smile when she fielded that question earlier this week.

"Means you've coached a long time," the 35-year Alabama gymnastics coach said Monday.

Memories of Alabama's 105 consecutive victories over Auburn mostly run together for Patterson, but one, overarching theme emerges when she reflects upon "The Streak." It was prevalent when Meredith Willard shook off a back injury to lead Alabama to victory during the 90s, and when current Crimson Tide senior Ashley Priess closed out the Tigers on three occasions over the past four years.

"I think about our ladies that built the program and how they were just
winners," Patterson said. "They were going to do anything they could to keep it going. If
that meant, 'I was not competing because I was kind of hurt' and saying, 'I can go in because I'm not letting this happen.'

"I think
that's been kind of the mentality of our team. 'I'll do anything I can
to help my team win.'"

"The Streak" will be once again on the line Friday when No. 5 Alabama hosts No. 15 Auburn at Coleman Coliseum. Limited tickets remain for the 7:30 p.m. meet.

Gymnasts and coaches from both sides preferred to focus on this year's particular meet -- one that yet again pits two, top 15 teams against each other -- but this Crimson Tide stretch of dominance, which spans more than 30 years and includes all meetings between the two teams during the regular season and postseason, is impossible to ignore.

"I think everybody thinks about it a little bit, but I'm not dwelling on
the Streak," third-year Auburn coach Jeff Graba said. "The Streak is what it is because Alabama's been pretty darn
dominant. They haven't just been dominant in our state, they've been
dominant in the nation.

"If we get close to Alabama, that means we're one
of the best teams in the country. And if we're close to them, we have a
shot at winning."

That's exactly what Auburn has done once under Graba and four times since 2008 in meets that have prevented this seemingly lopsided series from growing stale and predictable.

In 2009, Alabama needed a meet-high score of 49.225 on its final event (balance beam) to escape Auburn with a 195.675-195.650 -- the smallest possible margin of victory in gymnastics. One year later, Priess clinched a 195.650-195.200 Alabama victory by scoring a 9.9 on the balance beam.

Last year, in front of an Auburn Arena record crowd of 7,299, Priess clinched a close Crimson Tide victory for the third year in a row, as she scored a 9.925 on the balance beam to push Alabama to the 196.325-196.250 win.

"I've competed against Auburn three times and I've almost lost twice on
teams I've been on," Crimson Tide senior Ashley Sledge said. "They
definitely keep it interesting."

After a slow start to the season, Auburn has shown plenty of improvement over the past three weeks. It's scored no fewer than 196 points in a stretch that has included its season-high score (196.725) and two consecutive victories.

The Tigers don't rank above Alabama in any event, but they're among the 10 best teams in the nation on uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.

"We went through this last Friday and were able to handle an adverse
situation, a real tight meet, our young team handled it well," Graba said of last week's 196.325-195.650 victory over Arkansas. "We're trying to
get ourselves trained. The postseason is going to be close no
matter what happens, so we better be ready to roll."

Alabama (3-2, 3-2 SEC) is coming off two consecutive losses to Georgia and Florida, but it notched its top two scores in the process. Patterson referred to last week's 198.100-196.850 loss to the No. 1 Gators as the Crimson Tide's "best meet" of the season.

This week's focus, Patterson said, has centered on how Alabama, which didn't have a single gymnast fall last week, can improve its landings.

"Hopefully." Patterson said, "we can take the steps from that meet and have a breakout performance this weekend."

Alabama, though, can't do anything when the opponent has a breakout performance at its expense. Both Georgia and Florida notched season-highs in their highly anticipated meets against the Crimson Tide.

The Tigers (2-3 SEC) posted their second-best score of 2012 in last year's loss to Alabama.

"From the beginning of the season, Sarah let us know that every team has
the meet they compete against us X'd. Everybody brings their "A" game
for the meet they compete against us, including Auburn," Sledge said. "We're coming off
a little bit of disappointment off Florida and Georgia, but we're just really
using that as fuel.